Openable cartridge for facilitating egress and ingress of strip material

ABSTRACT

A cartridge for strip material is disclosed which includes a convolution of flexible sheeting wound around spaced, end members. The sidewall sheeting is attached to the end members in a manner providing a movable flap portion which is breakably sealed to an overlapped potion of the sheet convolution. The flap portion is movable to position which facilitates egress and ingress of a strip of web material. One end member is provided with an aperture through which a cartridge core can be connected to rotary drive and the other end member is provided with a surface construction adapted for connection to a separate rotary drive by which the entire cartridge can be moved for breaking the cartridge seal.

United States Patent Bushnell Feb.29,1972

[54] OPENABLE CARTRIDGE FOR FACILITATING EGRESS AND INGRESS 0F STRIPMATERIAL 211 Appl. No.: 835,128

3,184,053 5/1965 Eldridge ..206/52 3,234,024 2/1966 Leinonen.... ..96/781,121,355 12/1914 Hargrave ..206/52 S FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS410,071 5/1934 Great Britain ..242/71.1

Primary Examiner-William T. Dixson, Jr. Attorney-Robert W. Hampton andJohn D. Husser [5 7] ABSTRACT A cartridge for strip material isdisclosed which includes a convolution of flexible sheeting wound aroundspaced, end members. The sidewall sheeting is attached to the endmembers in a manner providing a movable flap portion which is breakablysealed to an overlapped potion of the sheet convolution. The flapportion is movable to position which facilitates egress and ingress of astrip of web material. One end member is provided with an aperturethrough which a cartridge core can be connected to rotary drive and theother end member is provided with a surface construction adapted forconnection to a separate rotary drive by which the entire cartridge canbe moved for breaking the cartridge seal,

3 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PAIENTEBFEB 29 m2 SHEET 1 [1F 3 O Q aATTORNEYS PATENTEnrmzs I972 3,645,385

SHEET 2 OF 3 CLIFFORD B. BUSHNELL INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS PATENTEUFEB29 m SHEET 3 BF 3 CLIFFORD B. BUSHNELL INVENTOR.

AT TORNE YS OPENABLE CARTRIDGE FOR FACILITATING EGRESS AND INGRESS OFSTRIP MATERIAL CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Reference is madeto U.S. Ser. No. 834,695, filed June 19, 1969, entitled Web HandlingApparatus and Cartridge and Web Usable Therewith, by Thaddeus Swanke andU.S. Ser. No. 834,702, filed June 19, 1969, entitled Web Take-Up Device,by Arthur C. Rissberger, Jr.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The presentinvention relates to a cartridge of the type for containing a coiledlength of web material and more particularly to a cartridge forcontaining a length of electrophotosensitive web material and having amovable closure member which can be retained in a closed position by abreakable seal. 2. Description of the Prior Art The use of cartridges tocontain a coiled strip of web material is well known in the art relatingto light sensitive materials. Such cartridges are desirablesubstantially lighttight to protect the materials and constructed in aninexpensive manner so as to be disposable after use of the materialstored therein.

Most prior art cartridges of this type are provided with either a covermember which can be removed completely to provide access to the materialtherein or with a lighttight opening from which the material can bewithdrawn as used.

It is not the usual practice to utilize such cartridges to store thepreviously contained material after use. For this reason the accessopenings in known cartridges are not adapted to facilitate the feed backof the material into the cartridge.

In accordance with the novel apparatus and method for inserting andremoving the electrophotosensitive web members of electrophotographicapparatus which apparatus and method are disclosed in U.S. applicationSer. No. 834,695, entitled Web Handling Apparatus and Cartridge and WebUsable Therewith," filed June 19, 1969, in the name of Thaddeus Swanke,it has been found desirable to utilize the same cartridge for storing anunused web before insertion and for receiving the soiled web after usein the apparatus. It is highly desirable that such a cartridge beadapted to store web material in a substantially lighttight manner priorto opening, be constructed to facilitate mechanized opening and, afterremoval of the web material, be adapted to facilitate feed back of theused web into the cartridge so that disposal of the soiled web can beaccomplished by an operator without the necessity of handling the web.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide for a length of web material a cartridge which isadapted to store the material in a substantially lighttight manner, iseasily openable to present the web material for withdrawal and use andafter opening and withdrawal of the web, is adapted to facilitate feedback of a used web into the cartridge for disposal of the web withouthandling.

It is another object of the present invention to provide improvedcartridge structure which can be easily and inexpensively fabricated.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedcartridge for protectively storing web material and which is adapted toreceive the web material when fed back after use.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide asubstantially lighttight cartridge which is readily openable to provideaccess to the material stored therein and which when opened is adaptedto facilitate both withdrawal and feed back of the material storedtherein.

The above objects are accomplished in accordance with the teachings ofthe present invention disclosed herein by provision of a cartridgehaving opposed and walls around which is wrapped a slightly overlappingconvolution of substantially opaque sheeting. The overlapping portionsof the sheeting are coupled by a frangible seal and it is a feature ofthe invention that the cartridge includes a cover flap portion which ismovable when the seal is broken and facilitates both egress and ingressof the strip with respect to the cartridge. The cartridge can include arotatable core and in such an embodiment one end wall is provided withan opening to facilitate connection of rotary drive to the core whilethe other end is provided with a surface construction adapted forconnection to a separate rotary drive utilized to open the cartridge.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sheeting forming thecartridge sidewalls is attached to the end walls of the cartridge aroundonly a major portion of the end wall peripheries. The edges of theoverlapping portions of the convoluted sheet are not secured to the endwall peripheries over a small distance extending past the overlapped endof the sheet, thereby providing a movable flap portion that extends overan ingress and egress opening in the cartridge. When the seal couplingthe overlapped portions of the sheeting is broken, the flap portion canbe moved to dispose the cartridge egress and ingress opening for use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above objects and advantages willbe readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the subsequentdetailed description of illustrative embodiments of the presentinvention with reference to the drawings in which like characters denotelike parts and wherein:

FIG. l is a top view of a web member of a type with which the presentinvention is adapted for use;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cartridge having therein a web membersuch as shown in FIG. 1 and illustrating one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cartridge shown in FIG. 2 butshowing the opposite end of the cartridge;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the cartridge shown in FIG. 2 with a portionremoved showing a web mounted therein;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the cartridge shown inFIG. 2, taken along the lines 55 but with the web removed therefrom;

FIG. 6 is a transverse cross-sectional view of a portion of thecartridge embodiment shown in FIG. 2 with the cartridge in its closedcondition;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are transverse cross-sectional views of the slightlymodified embodiments of the cartridge shown in FIG. 2 mounted inapparatus for use, FIG. 7 showing the cartridge in a closed and fullcondition and FIG. 8 showing the cartridge an open and empty conditionready to receive a used web; and

FIGS. 911 are perspective views showing other cartridge embodiments inaccordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS By referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and4, a web member W can be seen in a withdreiwn condition and as it isstored inside one embodiment in accordance with the present invention.The web W is in this instance an electrophotosensitive member which isprovided with apertures A along its leading and trailing ends 1 and 2respectively. The apertures A are provided in the web W for use inmounting the web in electrophotographic apparatus such as in the mannerdisclosed in the aforementioned copending U.S. application of ThaddeusSwanke. However, it will be appreciated that the cartridge features ofthe present invention are applicable for use with other web memberswhich are desirably stored in a protective container before use.Further, the features of the present invention are particularlyadvantageous in applications in which it is desirable to utilize acartridge to receive a web member after use of the web. In the case ofthe electrophotosensitive web W, these features prove important becauseused electrophotosensitive webs are soiled with developer and verydifficult for the operator to handle directly without becoming extremelydirty.

The cartridge embodiment 10 shown in FIG. 2 comprises a pair of end wallmembers 11 and 12 having generally circular edge peripheries ofsubstantially equal circumference. The end wall members desirably can beformed of plastic, metal, wood or other readily fabricated andinexpensive material.

Around the peripheries of the end walls 11 and 12 is wrapped a length offlexible sheeting 13. The width of the sheet 13 desirably is selected tobe sufficiently greater than the width of the web material to be storedin the cartridge so that a small distance is provided between a web inthe cartridge and the cartridge end walls. The length of the sheet 13 isselected in proportion to the circumference of the end walls 11 and 12so that when wrapped around the end walls in the manner shown in FIG. 2,the ends of the sheet overlap slightly providing a top end 14 and bottomend 15, see the cross-sectional views in FIGS. 6 and 7. The sheet 13 canbe formed of plastic sheeting, heavy paper, thin metal or otherflexible, durable and relatively inexpensive sheet material. In certaininstances it may be desirable to have a preformed sheet with a hinged ormovable portion. In use with the particular web member W it is desirablethat the material selected for both the end walls 11 and 12 and the sidewall sheet 13 of the cartridge be formed of relatively opaque materialin order to make the cartridge substantially lighttight.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 the longitudinal edges of sheet 13 aresecured to the circular periphery of each end member 11 and 12 around amajor portion of the end wall peripheries. This may be accomplished byadhesive or by so]- dering, welding, ultrasonic sealing or such otherknown procedures for joining as are appropriate with the materialschosen for the ends and sheet. Also the ends can be designed to interfitwith a preformed sheet or can be joined to the sheet 13 by staples,rivets, nails, or similar fasteners.

In FIG. 2 it can be seen that the sheet 13 is not affixed to a minorportion M of the peripheries of ends 11 and 12 and that therefore aportion of sheet 13 extending from the overlapping end 14 thereof formsa flap F which can be moved away from the end walls 11 and 12. Referringto FIGS. 6 and 7 it can be seen more clearly that flap portion Fincludes the top end portion 14 of the sheet 13 and also a longitudinalsegment of sheet 13 extending further around the periphery of the endwalls away from overlapped sheet end 15. Therefore, when the flapportion F of sidewall sheet 13 is moved away from the end walls as shownin FIG. 8, a web ingress and egress opening is provided in thecontainer. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, a notched or indented transversegroove 16 can be provided across sheet 13 to facilitate the bending ofthe flap portion F away from the end walls I l and 12. It will beappreciated that such a groove 16 on the sheet 13 desirably shouldcoincide with location at which the seal of the edges of sheet 13 to themajor portions of end wall peripheries terminate.

By referring to FIGS. 3, 4 and it can be seen that end wall 12 of thecartridge includes a first wall portion 20 having a generally centrallylocated opening into the container in which is mounted a rotatable driveplug 21. The plug 21 includes drive flanges 22 formed on the exteriorsurface and a circular connecting flange 23 on the inside surface whichis connected to a cylindrical drive core 24 extending inside thecartridge. The drive plug 21 and core 24 are desirable with particularembodiments of cartridges in accordance with the present invention forpurposes described in U.S. Application Ser. No. 834,702, entitled WebTake-Up Device, filed June 19, 1969, in the name ofArthur C. Rissberger,Jr.

The end wall member 11 is provided with a protruding portion 28 whichcan desirably be formed to include a bearing surface to support thecartridge in apparatus for use.

With a cartridge in a condition such as shown in FIG. 8, i.e., with theflap F spaced from the overlapped portion of sheet 13, the web W can befed into the cartridge trailing end 2 first. The web W will be directedinto the cartridge by flap F and into a coiled condition by the innersurface of sheet 13. When the web W has been coiled within the cartridgeto the extent that the leading end 1 of the web has reached a locationjust outside the cartridge, the web feed into the cartridge is stopped.The flap F then is moved to the closed position shown in FIGS. 2, 4, 6and 7 and a frangible means such as breakable tabs 30 are applied tocouple the flap F to the overlapped portion 15 of sheet 13, therebyholding the flap F in a closed position in the manner shown in FIG. 2.It will be noted that the tabs 30 couple the overlapping sheet portionsat edge locations so as not to contact the web W. The tabs 30 desirablycan be formed of readily breakable tape material or other easilybreakable or severable joining material.

The bottom portion 15 of the sheet 13 can be provided with raiseddimples 31 to reduce any electrostatic adherence of the web W to thecartridge and to position the leading portion 1 of the web for easywithdrawal from the cartridge. If desired light seal material such as astrip of frictional material 32 (See FIG. 7) can be provided on thesheet 13 extending transversely across the sheet between overlappingends 14 and 15. This strip can desirably be formed of a plastic foammaterial such as a polyurethane foam which is slightly compressible andwhen compressed between the overlapping ends of the side wall and webtherebetween will frictionally retain the web end as well as provide alight seal for the cartridge.

It will now be appreciated that when a loaded and sealed cartridge issupported in apparatus at its ends and moved against members in theapparatus located to contact and break seals 30, such as for example,members 40 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the flap F will be broken free of theseals 30 for movement to the open position. Further, the leading end ofa web W in the cartridge will be released from the retaining forceapplied between ends 14 and 15 of the sheet 13 and free to move forwithdrawal from the cartridge. It will also be understood that after thecartridge has been opened and a web W has been withdrawn, the flap F inits open position provides means for directing a used web back into thecartridge through the egress and ingress opening presented when the flapF is in the open position, see FIG. 8. A used web can therefore be fedback into the cartridge 10 in the manner shown in FIG. 8 and disposed ofwithout necessity of the operator touching the web.

Referring now to the cartridge embodiment 50 shown in FIG. 9 it can beseen that the end member 51 has a circular periphery adapted to have alongitudinal edge of sidewall sheet 53 aflixed thereto in the mannerdescribed with respect to cartridge embodiment 10. The oppositelongitudinal edge of sheet 53 is attached in the same manner along anopposite end member (not shown). In cartridge 50 a drive plug and coreare not utilized. It can be seen that in cartridge 50 the flap F of thesheet 53 defined by groove 56 is attached to the overlapped sheetportion by a spot seal 54, such as by adhesive or ultrasonic sealing.This coupling between the overlapping sheet portions is again formed soas to be easily breakable to release flap F and provide egress andingress to the cartridge 50 in a manner such as described above withrespect to cartridge 10. It will be appreciated that the opposite end ofthe cartridge is held c osed in the same manner.

The cartridge mbodiment 60 shown in FIG. 10 is like that shown in FIG. 9with exception that a frangible band 64 is utilized to retain thecartridge flap portion F defined by groove 66 in sheet 63 in a closedposition. The band 64 can be broken in the manner described or removedby slipping it over end 61 and the flap F moved to the open position tofacilitate egress and ingress of the web W. It will be appreciated thatagain an opposite end of the cartridge, not shown, is constructed andheld closed in the same manner as the end shown in FIG. 10.

The cartridge shown in FIG. 11 is similar to the previously describedembodiments; however, in this embodiment the sidewall sheet 73 isattached to the peripheries of end walls 71 and 72 along the entirelength of its longitudinal edges. In this embodiment weakened portions74 are provided in the sheet near each end wall of the cartridge andextend generally longitudinally from the top overlapping end of thesheet 73 a distance sufficient to form a flap portion F which can bebroken from the secured edge portions of sheet 73. When the perforatedor otherwise weakened portions 74 are broken by movement of the flapportion F away from the cartridge an egress and ingress is provided forthe web in the cartridge 70 and the flap portion F is in position toguide feed of the web.

It will be appreciated that although the embodiments of the presentinvention have been described with respect to applicability for use inelectrophotographic apparatus, cartridges in accordance with theteachings of the present invention will find utility in conjunction withother types of web handling apparatus because of the unique openingfeature and the feature facilitating feedback of web material.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference topreferred embodiments thereof but it will be understood that variationsand modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of theinvention.

Iclaim:

l. A cartridge comprising:

a. first and second end walls of generally circular peripheralconfiguration, said end walls being generally parallel and aligned alonga longitudinal axis of said cartridge, each end wall including a bearingsurface for supporting said cartridge for rotation on said longitudinalaxis, said first end wall having a central aperture extendingtherethrough to the cartridge interior and said second end wall havingslot means on the outer surface thereof for connecting said cartridge toa first source of rotary drive in a predetermined angular orientation onits longitudinal axis;

b. a length of sheet material extending between said end walls andattached to each of said end walls around the major portion of theperipheral outlines thereof, the area between the portions of end walloutlines to which said sheet is not attached defining a passage to andfrom the space between said end walls;

c. a cover flap extending from said sheet over said passage;

d. a core located between said sidewalls and including means, formed onone core end and extending through said central aperture, for connectingsaid core to a second source of rotary drive and facilitating rotationof said core independent of a rotary source connected to said slotmeans;

e. a coil of web material wound on said core, a leading end of said coilextending through said passage, between said cover flap and said sheet,to a location outside said cartridge; and

f. means for frangibly coupling said cover flap to the overlappedportion of said sheet.

2. The invention defined in claim 11 wherein said cover flap is formedas an integral extension of one end of said sheet and overlaps theopposite end of said sheet.

3. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said web of material is oflesser width than the width of said sheet and located within saidcartridge substantially equidistant between said end walls and whereinsaid means for frangibly coupling said cover flap to the overlappedsheet portion are located near each end wall of said cartridge so thatthe leading web portion extending from said cartridge is not contactedby said coupling means.

1. A cartridge comprising: a. first and second end walls of generallycircular peripheral configuration, said end walls being generallyparallel and aligned along a longitudinal axis of said cartridge, eachend wall including a bearing surface for supporting said cartridge forrotation on said longitudinal axis, said first end wall having a centralaperture extending therethrough to the cartridge interior and saidsecond end wall having slot means on the outer surface thereof forconnecting said cartridge to a first source of rotary drive in apredetermined angular orientation on its longitudinal axis; b. a lengthof sheet material extending between said end walls and attached to eachof said end walls around the major portion of the peripheral outlinesthereof, the area between the portions of end wall Outlines to whichsaid sheet is not attached defining a passage to and from the spacebetween said end walls; c. a cover flap extending from said sheet oversaid passage; d. a core located between said sidewalls and includingmeans, formed on one core end and extending through said centralaperture, for connecting said core to a second source of rotary driveand facilitating rotation of said core independent of a rotary sourceconnected to said slot means; e. a coil of web material wound on saidcore, a leading end of said coil extending through said passage, betweensaid cover flap and said sheet, to a location outside said cartridge;and f. means for frangibly coupling said cover flap to the overlappedportion of said sheet.
 2. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein saidcover flap is formed as an integral extension of one end of said sheetand overlaps the opposite end of said sheet.
 3. The invention defined inclaim 1 wherein said web of material is of lesser width than the widthof said sheet and located within said cartridge substantiallyequidistant between said end walls and wherein said means for frangiblycoupling said cover flap to the overlapped sheet portion are locatednear each end wall of said cartridge so that the leading web portionextending from said cartridge is not contacted by said coupling means.